A very muddy walk this morning

I chose this morning for a walk as the weather forecast was better than the afternoon.  It's a good job I opted for Wellies as the ground was absolutely saturated.  And I hate walking in them - it always feels as though I do twice as much work.  It wasn't helped by the mud as I skidded my way across saturated fields.  (I made the mistake of going across the hors paddock next to Thurgoland Hall Lane - again! Lesson learnt now - I hope.). This tractor  and driver were delivering hay to some sheep in the field to my right and it was taking him a while to manoeuvre.  So while I waited I thought I'd have a photo.  

I'd also was interested in some lichen on some broken branches that were lying along the footpath, which I'm guessing were from Ash trees.  The ones I've shared as extra's certainly are Ash and I thought the blue sky was worth sharing.  
 
p.s. It was raining a few minutes ago.